Friday, June 22, 2007

I was Googling for story structure tips and arrived at this site: Channel101

The first thing to yank my attention on that page was the 4-act circle diagram. That looks identical to my own 4-act Story Diamond. Immediately I knew the author and I were sympatico on 4-act story structure.

Dan Harmon, the article's author, has numbered the eight compass points of his circle in clockwise fashion, one through eight. That's opposite to my story diamond, where progression is counter-clockwise. I cannot tell you why I chose counter-clockwise for mine. Maybe it's because I'm in Australia and water spirals down the drain in the opposite direction to you folk in the Northern Hemisphere. (OK, so that is actually an urban legend.)

So I knew I was onto something here. Some new piece of the puzzle, I hoped. Or at least further confirmation that others prefer to work with the 4-act structure implicit in the traditional 3-act screenplay model.

What do the numbers signify?

You

Need

Go

Search

Find

Take

Return

Change

Over to Dan for the 411...

1) "You" - who are we? A squirrel? The sun? A red blood cell? America? By the end of the first 37 seconds, we'd really like to know.

2) "Need" - something is wrong, the world is out of balance. This is the reason why a story is going to take place. The "you" from (1) is an alcoholic. There's a dead body on the floor. A motorcycle gang rolls into town. Campbell phrases: Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid.

3) "Go" - For (1) and (2), the "you" was in a certain situation, and now that situation changes. A hiker heads into the woods. Pearl Harbor's been bombed. A mafia boss enters therapy. Campbell phrase: Crossing of the Threshold. Syd Field phrase: Plot Point 1.

5) "Find" - whether it was the direct, conscious goal or not, the "need" from (2) is fulfilled. We found the princess. The suspect gives the location of the meth lab. A nerd achieves popularity. Campbell phrase: Meeting with the Goddess. Syd Field phrase: mid-point. Vogler phrase: Approach to the Innermost Cave.

6) "Take" - The hardest part (both for the characters and for anyone trying to describe it). On one hand, the price of the journey. The shark eats the boat. Jesus is crucified. The nice old man has a stroke. On the other hand, a goal achieved that we never even knew we had. The shark now has an oxygen tank in his mouth. Jesus is dead- oh, I get it, flesh doesn't matter. The nice old man had a stroke, but before he died, he wanted you to take this belt buckle. Now go win that rodeo. Campbell phrases: Atonement with the Father, Death and Resurrection, Apotheosis. Syd Field phrase: plot point 2

7) "Return" - It's not a journey if you never come back. The car chase. The big rescue. Coming home to your girlfriend with a rose. Leaping off the roof as the skyscraper explodes. Campbell phrases: Magic Flight, Rescue from Without, Crossing of the Return Threshold.

8) "Change" - The "you" from (1) is in charge of their situation again, but has now become a situation-changer. Life will never be the same. The Death Star is blown up. The couple is in love. Dr. Bloom's Time Belt is completed. Lorraine Bracco heads into the jungle with Sean Connery to "find some of those ants." Campbell phrases: Master of Both Worlds, Freedom to Live.

Now. Look what happens when I overlay those eight plot points over my 4-act story diamond (counter-clockwise). Note that I've overlapped act breaks.

Act One - Preparation/Orphan

You, Need, Go

Act Two - Separation/Wanderer

Go, Search, Find

Act Three - Initiation/Warrior

Find, Take, Return

Act Four - Return/Martyr

Return, Change, You

That's a perfect fit. Not surprising, given Dan's eight plot points are built on established screen storytelling lore -- so was my 4-act Story Diamond -- as evidenced by his references to Field, Vogler, and Campbell. Even though this new (to me) eight-point diagram is not revolutionary, it is evolutionary for me, and I will add it to my 4-act diagram soon.

Here comes the somewhat weird, synchronistic part of the story.

So I found this page by Dan, mulled over it for a while and contemplated its significance to my own storytelling beliefs, and moved on.

A few hours later, again through some random browsing, I encountered a blog authored by a storyboard artist at Pixar. Specifically, I found myself on this page, titled "Who are YOU to question story structure!?!??!!!??" Hey, Jack Black in a video where he's 'the Story Wizard', cool, I thought to myself. And I pressed Play. (Go watch it. I'll wait.)

Synchronicity. In that short instructional video, the story tool JB teaches us about is... yep, the 8-point plot model I had just learned from Dan Harmon this very night. But JB's version differs slightly. Here are the vital eight plot points according to JB. Where it differs from Dan's version, I've put Dan's in brackets .

Something (You)

Need

Go

Search

Find

Take

Back to (Return)

Where it was (Change)

There is no mistaking these two versions share the same foundation. And it's a very, very solid foundation.

All I'm saying is, I thought it was kinda odd that I stumbled upon two versions of the same storytelling concept within hours of each other, both times accidentally. And this after a decade of researching storycrafting for film.

Fun Joel — He's got links to every other screenwriting resource you could possibly want. Steal 'em all then blame it on THAT guy.

Go Into The Story — Screenwriter and instructor Scott Myers' young son urged his father to 'go into the story and find the animals.' Scott also found Lincoln's hat, a Pokemon, and Tara Reid's self esteem.

Jeremy Slater — Jeremy founded the popular site 'How To Write Screenplays, Badly' (see link above). That site is mothballed now, because Jeremy proved to be no good at writing screenplays badly when he sold his spec 'Pet' to MGM. Word of advice: if you meet Jeremy on the lot, don't ask why he's wearing the bear suit.

John August — Site tells the story of a Hollywood screenwriter who drinks a few beers, has a few laughs, and then writes the Charlies Angles movies. I forget how the story ends. Go there now and learn from a pro. Then come back. Bring beer.

Josh Friedman — Josh wrote Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Brother, did that ending suck, and I'm not complaining about the bacteria (the kid is alive? ALIVE? Why not throw in the 'it was all a dream' ending!). Luckily, Josh's blog anti-sucks bigtime.

Mystery Man On Film — Blog run by a powerful enclave of Hollywood A-list screenwriters who work night and day to impersonate a supposed 'mystery man' who blogs incessantly about everything screenwriting. There, now you know. Pffffft. Mystery my ass. The only mystery is, are these blueberries or boysenberries on my muffin?

ScreenwriterBones — Philip Morton's blog title holds a subject and a verb, but leaves us asking the question, 'bones what?'

Terry Rossio's MySpace Blog — You will know Terry, of course, as the writer of Little Ghost Fighters (Philippines: English title). Also, he wrote a popular cartoon called Shrek. And Pirates of the Carribean, starring Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones. Kidding, just kidding. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio rule Hollywood with their superhuman storytelling powers. That seems to be working out way better than the time they tried to rule Hollywood with their colony of vicious (but poorly trained) vampire bats.